Knight In Shining Armor
by Dracosgrl1988
Summary: Hermione finds out her parents have died in a Deatheater attack. She becomes depressed and who is there for her but none other than Severus Snape. Contains Violance, Rape, and Bad Language. Previous title Concrete Angel, redone after HPB. SSHG. Major HB
1. Bad News and Uncontrollible Anger

This is a rewritten fanfic, a bit different but over all the same. I had to update it for the sixth book. It's previous title was Concrete Angel. I might add that this is a HBP spoiler. Well, enjoy!

Chapter One-Bad News and Uncontrollable Anger

Hermione Granger was a wreck. After the death of Dumbledore over a year ago, she was left with enormous insecurities. It was the middle of her seventh year and Voldemort was getting stronger than ever. With the increasing amount of disappearances and deaths, her studies and the mounting worries of her loved ones, she was getting more and more stressed by the day. She had given up on reading the Daily Prophet, not wanting to see the bad news it carried.

Trying to pry her mind from the short letter she had received from the new Headmistress, Professor McGonagall only moments ago, she continued her journey to the Headmistress' office. As she walked, she thought of what the reason might be for the letter.

Finally, after minutes of walking, she arrived in front of the stone gargoyle.

"Mandrake," Hermione said after she looked and was sure that there was no one else near. Then, she remembered it was past curfew and there shouldn't be any students wandering around at this time, not counting the ones who snuck out to be with their boyfriends and girlfriends from other houses. She rolled her eyes as she thought of the hormones teenagers had.

The gargoyle allowed her admittance as she thought this. She rapped on the office door and entered.

McGonagall was sitting behind the desk. Hermione could only imagine what it felt to have the deceased Albus Dumbledore's office. Surrounded by all the things that once belonged to Dumbledore. She glanced up at Dumbledore's portrait. There he was, snoozing in his frame.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall said, tearing Hermione from her thoughts. Hermione prided her eyes from the portrait and looked at McGonagall.

"As you know," the Headmistress began, "the attacks on muggles have been increasing by the day. No one is safe in this dark time."

Hermione's heart dropped as she knew what was coming next. This was something she had feared since Voldemort's rise at the end of her forth year.

"Miss Granger, I regret to inform you that you parents were killed in a Deatheater attack. I'm so very sorry."

McGonagall stared at Hermione with deep pity in her eyes. Hermione was her favorite student and she wished she hadn't been the one to tell her of the terrible news, but it came. She wished this on none of her students, even the Slytherins.

Hermione stood as though in shock and turned, without uttering one word and walked out of the office. As soon as she was past the stone gargoyle, she ran, not knowing where she was running to.

Soon, she found herself in the Astronomy Tower. Hermione threw herself to the ground and put her back against the wall. It was then that realization settled. Memories of past times with her parents flooded into her head. Her first day of Muggle school. Her mother had cried as she got on the school bus and her father had smiled with pride. Nights of thunder storms, where she'd run into her parents room and get into bed with them while they comforted her. Nights that her father would read her to sleep. Evenings that she had attempted to help her mother with dinner. The day she had received her letter for Hogwarts, how proud they had been, though she was going away, they were still proud. They had always been proud of Hermione.

Hermione sat alone in the Astronomy Tower, crying silent tears and pressing her face to her robes. Questions surrounded her brain, replacing the memories. Why had it happened to her? Why had it happened to them? Was it her fault? This only made her cry harder. Yes, she decided, it was her fault.

Severus Snape was walked the corridors of Hogwarts. Well, as the rumors had it, he flew around the castle. Sleep didn't come often to him, not since what had happened a year and a half ago. After the death of Albus Dumbledore, Snape had been with the Deatheaters for a year and had still came back to the Order often. The only thing that had saved him from the accusations he had received numerously, was that two other people had known of the plan Albus had came up with. Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin. Dumbledore had told Severus to kill him. Although, that night, the three standing in his office thought him to be crazy, he had explained: this was so that there was still a spy for the Order and Severus knew, to save Severus's life.

Snape regretted the night that he was forced to make the Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa. He had to, what other choice did he have? Bellatrix would have killed him on the spot had he decided against it. Oh, how he wished he would have never became a Deatheater. Maybe Albus would still be alive.

Albus had told him repeatedly that if it hadn't been him, it surely would have been someone else. Severus knew it was mad to kill Albus, he was the only hope, save Potter, as he didn't believe that the boy could conquer the Dark Lord.

But, he had failed Albus. He was caught while returning from a meeting with McGonagall. Severus had barely escaped with his life a day later. He apparated to the place he knew best: Hogwarts. From there he dragged his bloody and beaten body up to the castle. It was still summer break for the the students and he needn't worry about students. He made it to the large doors before passing out from the pain. It was McGonagall who found him and after spilling his story to the Ministry, he was pardoned for his crimes.

Although many didn't believe it, parents had shown that with their many complaints when he was placed once again as a teacher at Hogwarts, it was to be expected.

Severus was brought out of his thoughts as someone ran down the corridor, right passed him. Of course, he knew it was a student, as you don't see many teachers running down corridors, but why right passed him? Surely, anyone with any common sense would not run directly passed a Professor after curfew.

Severus walked briskly after the student, black robes billowing behind him. Tonight, he wasn't in the mood and he felt sorry for the unknowing student that he was about to get into his clutches. He followed the footsteps up to the Astronomy Tower.

Teenage hormones he thought with disgust. Countless times he had walked upon scenes he'd rather not have seen while walking the corridors of Hogwarts, a majority of the time in the Astronomy Tower and countless times he had dished out detentions for it. He smirked, yes smirked, at the thought of taking his anger out on a pair of unsuspecting hormone driven teenagers.

'Oh, how I feel sorry for these dunderheads,' Severus thought as he arrived at his destination.

When he found his prey, he took notice of the bushy hair and recognized the form as Hermione Granger. This was even better than what he expected. He loved to torture the Gryffindor know-it-all. She, like Potter, adored her house points. He knew for a fact that she didn't have rounds tonight.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor," Severus said in a cold voice as he stepped out of the shadows.

The girl jumped at this but stayed in her position on the stone floor. When she brought her head up, he then noticed she had tears running down her face. Severus couldn't stop himself.

"Oh, did Weasley break up with you?"

Then she did something very un-Hermione Granger like. She stood up and began to scream uncontrollably at him.

"You heartless bastard!" she screamed. "I hate you, you fucking inconsiderate prat!"

Severus, who was taken aback by this, stood silent for a moment.

"Another twenty points and a weeks worth of detentions for using profanity towards a teacher!" he yelled. Never, in his nineteen years of teaching, had he had a student yell at him like this, not only that, but by Hermione Granger. He never knew such words were in her vocabulary.

Miss Granger got redder in the face and once again began to scream at him.

"Why not another hundred? Why not take all of them? That's what you want, isn't it? Give me a months of detention! I really don't give a damn anymore!"

And with that she stormed out of the Tower leaving Severus Snape in shock.


	2. Finding Strength

This is the second chapter. I hope you like!

Chapter Two-Finding Strength

Hermione ran to the Fat Lady, trying to wipe the evidence of her tears off of her face. She was strong, she could handle this.

"Unicorn hair," she said in a raspy voice. Her throat was raw from crying and screaming at Professor Snape. Thinking back to that, she thought about the things she had screamed at him. She was really going to regret it in the near future, but what did she care?

The Fat Lady gave her a look of pity, seeing the sadness in her face, but let her admittance.

As she walked into the common room, she saw the three people she dreaded to see momentarily: Ron, Ginny and Harry. They were sitting around the fireplace. Ron was in one of the big cozy red armchairs and Ginny was next to Harry on the matching sofa. They seen that Hermione was back and waved her over.

Hermione took a deep breath and walked over to where her boyfriend and best friends were sitting. She didn't want to tell them at the moment, but it as good a time as any.

Ron pulled her onto his lap. She successfully held back the tears that threatened to come.

"So, what all did McGonagall want?"

Hermione remembered that she had told them that it was probably something to do with Head Girl duties. It was time to tell them. She knew that they would comfort her. She only wondered if she'd break down before she could get the whole story out. She took another deep breath and began.

"Th-there was another Deatheater a-attack," she began, tears filling in her eyes.

The three all looked at her curiously.

Ron put a strand of stray hair behind her ear.

Hermione closed her eyes and continued. "My parents were apart of the attack." With this last sentence, she broke down again.

There was a stunned silence and then Harry broke it.

"Hermione, I am so sorry."

Ron pulled her to his chest and began to rock her back and forth. Ginny and Harry looked at each other before getting up to hug their hurt friend. With this Hermione cried harder. She was glad she had such good friends. She would make it through this with their help.

And that's the way they stayed for minutes. Finally, they all broke away, besides Ron who had his head on her head and was still rocking her.

"Don't worry 'Mione," Harry said sitting at the end of the couch, "we'll get you through this." He offered her a small smile.

Ginny, who hadn't spoken yet, agreed with him.

Hermione cried until she fell asleep in Ron's arms. After he was sure that she was asleep, he picked her up and carried her to the Head Girl's quarters and laid Hermione in her bed.

After softly closing the door behind him, he went where his best friend and sister were and sat back down into the armchair. From there, they began to talk about how they could help their friend cope with the loss of her parents.

Severus Snape sat in his quarters thinking about the girl, no woman, as she was now an adult, that he had just seen. He had never seen her so upset, not even when he had insulted her intelligence in class. Yes, in her fourth year when he insulted her about her teeth after the duel between Potter and Malfoy she had been upset, but not as upset as she had been in the Astronomy Tower.

He went to his cupboard and pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey and took a big gulp. After making a face from the strong whiskey, he walked into his bathroom and took a shower. Contrary to popular belief, he did shower and was much of a clean freak. His oily hair came from the amount of time he spent bent over cauldrons and it didn't help that he dried his hair with magic. It only made the matter worse.

After drying off and putting on his silky black pajamas, Severus went back to his sitting room and took another gulp of fire whiskey. Once again, his thoughts drifted to the Gyrffindor. Although she was a show-off, he did respect her intellect and her keen interest in learning. He wouldn't tell any one of this though. He thought that her choice in friends was terrible and she would always be an insufferable know-it-all in his eyes. Still, he wondered why she was so upset.

After finishing his bottle of fire whiskey, he headed to his bedroom and fell to the bed in a drunken state. Severus then fell into a restless sleep plagued by nightmares of Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione awoke early the next morning and glanced at her clock: five o' clock. She didn't remember going into her quarters the previous night. Ron must have carried her in there she decided.

Her quarters were large with her own bathroom and large canopy bed. Of course, the walls were scarlet with gold trimming. Her bed was draped with a large scarlet comforter and gold linen sheets. The curtains around the bed were also scarlet.

Hermione went to her closet and pulled out a pair of flared jeans, fresh undergarments and a baggy navy blue T-shirt. She then proceeded to the bathroom which was on the left from her bed. It was huge, not as huge as the prefect bathroom, but close. She turned on the tap with the small purple bubbles that had the scent of lavender and waited for the tub to fill up. The bathroom was unlike the bedroom. It had white walls with the Gryffindor crest on the one by the bath and had as many as twenty different taps on the sides.

Hermione got undressed and slid into the bath. It felt good, although she still felt terrible about the news she had received the previous evening.

Deep in her mind, she felt it was her fault that her parents were attacked. She tried to tell herself that it was just another random Deatheater attack, but something told her otherwise. She also wondered why she wasn't crying. Sure she had cried her heart out the night before, but now she just felt . . . numb.

After ten minutes of soaking, she put shampoo in her hands and massaged it into her hair. Her thoughts wandered to Snape. How would he treat her in class this afternoon? After the episode last night in the Astronomy Tower, she dreaded going to Potions tomorrow afternoon. She just knew that tomorrow was going to be a terrible day.

'Well, Hermione, your parents were just murdered and you cussed out a Professor, not to mention the most dreaded Professor of Hogwarts.'

After rinsing her hair and washing, she sighed and got out of the bath.

When she was dressed and had her hair pulled into a ponytail, she noted it was 5:30 and no one was going to be up at this hour on a Sunday. She then decided that she would take a walk in the gardens that were beside the castle. They had been her secret place since her fourth year. She always went there when she was upset.

Grabbing her black jacket and slipping on her white Nike trainers, she walked out of her dormitory, leaving a quick note to her friends telling them where she was in case they freaked out when they found her gone.

The stairway to the girls dormitories started by the door to the Head Girl's dormitory. Hermione glanced around. As she thought, she was the only person that seemed to be awake. She then proceeded to the gardens. What she didn't know was that she was about to run into the last person she wanted to see.

The End

Just Kidding

**BowlingStar**-yes, very bad Hermione, but she told him!

**Dark Whisperss**-I am glad you like it! Here's a quick update, but they all won't be this quick, I just have a free day.


	3. The Gradens

Here is chapter three. Read and Review!

Chapter Three-The Gardens

Severus Snape walked around the gardens of Hogwarts. Severus had always came out to the garden when he was upset. He had awoken in a sweat from the same draem he had since the night of his revealance to Voldemort.

It was always the same. He stood over the Headmaster and whispered the two words that ended ones life. The same esape. Then, as though in sequence he was in the middle of that bloody room being tourchured by the group of Deatheaters. Then Albus was there, telling him what a mistake he had made, letting Severus kill him. He was a failure. He told Severus that he had wasted both the lives and that he should just give up and die.

A sound of shoes crunching the snow brought Severus from his misery. He looked up abruptedly and saw nothing. Maybe it was an animal, but his instinct told him it wasn't. As it was winter, it was still quite dark out and he knew that there were still Deatheaters looking for him. Of course they knew he was at Hogwarts, so Severus pulled out his wand, ready in case of an attack and steped into the shadows.

A sniffle made him think otherwise though. Unless the Deatheaters were trying to pull him into a false sense of security; nonetheless, he still kept his wand at the ready.

Hermione walked around the dark quiet gardens, thinking about her parents. She knew that it was good to cry and get it all out rather than keep it built up. She had cried last night, but it wasn't enough. It made her feel even worse knowing that she could, breath, eat, sleep and laugh and her parents couldn't.

Before she knew it, silent tears were streaming down her face.

Sevreus now began to recognize the figure of a woman through the cold darkness. Soon the figure was close enough for him to see that it was none other than Miss Granger. _Now what is that silly girl doing down here this early?_

Quite suddenly, she threw herself down in the snow by an old oak tree.

He stayed where he was. He didn't think he wanted a student knowing that he, Severus Snape had a thing for walking in the garden. Usually, he didn't have to worry about it, seeing as none of the students ever came down to the gradens, as they very significant. He scowled. No one would truely understand the meaning of true beauty.

His thoughts were interupted by a sob from the Gryffindor sitting against the tree.

Hermione threw herself into the snow and rested her back against the oak tree she often visited. Before she could stop herself she beagn to sob so hard her body shook.

She then started to beat her fists into the snow.

"It's all my fault!" she screamed. "If I wouldn't have came here, they'd still be alive!"

Uncontrollably, she beat her fists harder, crying as she did.

No one would understand. Harry wouldn't, he never knew his parents.

She gave up, put her face into her now freezing hands.

Severus watched her beat her fists into the snow. _What is wrong with the girl? Potter couldn't have meant that much to her. _No, Weasley was the one dating her, but he couldn't have meant that much to her neither. _Damn teenagers. _

Then she screamed. "It's all my fault! If I wouldn't have came here, they'd still be alive!"

Severus's heart dropped. Her parents must have been attacked. That's why she was crying in the Astronomy Twoer last night. He then felt something he rarely felt. . . guilt. Guilt for what he had said to her the previous night.

Severus walked another path to the castle. Clearly the she wanted to be alone and he didn't want her to know he had seen her. He wouldn't know how to explain and Miss Granger would have been more upset had she known she was being watched. He left her to herself, hoping she wouldn't caught pneumonia from the cold weather and from her tears.

Sorry it is so short, but I couldn't think of anything else to add to this chapter. I will try to write another chapter soon, seeing as I don't have marching band anymore. sniffles Tonight was my last field performance ever. Believe me, being a Senior has it's downfalls.


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